In the preparation of certain anticonvulsants disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,772,615, such as 1-[2-[bis[4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]methoxy]ethyl]-3-pyridine carboxylic acid, it is necessary to prepare as an intermediate, p-trifluoromethyl phenyl lithium. This compound has been prepared by metallation of p-bromobenzotrifluoride with n-butyl lithium in diethyl ether. However, this reaction must be carefully carried out in view of the explosive instability reported for p-trifluoromethylphenyllithium. In addition, the yields of the desired compound employing that reaction were rather modest and not satisfactory from a commercial standpoint. Moreover, this reaction was not especially suitable for scale-up to provide commercially desired quantities of material.